Fingerstyle & Slide Guitar in Open Tunings

How wonderful just to be able to see and hear John Fahey, now eleven years gone. But to finally see his techniques explained is beyond my wildest hopes. Fahey was simply the greatest folk and blues guitarist America ever produced. He was an utter genius. And here is part of how he did it. This is not for the beginner!

a long term project worth the journey

I found that "Fingerstyle and Slide Guitar in Open Tunings" taught by John Fahey, has excellent material for the music historian in the introduction, dealing as it does with Fahey's musical development, early exploration and aspirations. John Fahey is one of my all time favourite musicians and being able to learn tunes like "Spanish Two Step" is amazing. It is clear that John Fahey's playing influenced great players such as Leo Kottke, another one of my all time favourite musicians. I would suggest that this book is a great buy and an investment for any lifelong student of the steel string guitar, teacher, or soul in search of musical inspiration on this instrument; perhaps looking to follow in Fahey's creative footsteps.It may appear that you only have one of the CDs when you just flick through the book, but if you look really carefully you will (hopefully!) find, as I did, that all the CDs are there at the back of the volume and the product is properly delivered.Play on.

Good!!!

Nothing fancy in terms of content: A half dozen or so of John's tunes and an interview with the man himself. But if you like American Primitive guitar, this, along with his other volume also available from the same publisher, will get you going. If you are unfamiliar with Fahey's recordings -perhaps a blues picker looking to take your playing in a new direction -this could be it. In terms of technique, I would say they are achievable for most intermediate fingerstyle players. His playing was infused with the feel of early Ameran blues and country guitar, but had an odd, avant garde and slightly dissonant feel. Fascinating stuff.